Video Game /
Sonic 3 & Knuckles

Edit Locked

Sonic races through the green fields.The sun races through a blue sky filled with white clouds.The ways of his heart are much like the sun. Sonic runs and rests; the sun rises and sets.Don't give up on the sun. Don't make the sun laugh at you.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3, originally released on February 2, 1994, covers the first half, in which the player can play as Sonic the Hedgehog, Miles "Tails" Prower, or both. Knuckles the Echidna, the final member of the Sonic and Tails Power Trio, made his debut in this game as an antagonist rather than a playable character.

Sonic & Knuckles, officially released worldwide on October 18 of that same year,note Although technically released the previous day to select U.S. retailers and via the MTV-televised "Rock the Rock" competition that concluded on Alcatraz Island, of all places, where the first cartridges were given to the winner and runner-up. covers the second half of the game, including the HeelFace Turn of Knuckles, and allows the player to play as Sonic or Knuckles (but not Tails).

Advertisement:

The game also featured "Lock-On Technology", a slot on top of the cartridge in which another Sega Genesis / Mega Drive cartridge could be inserted. By connecting the Sonic 3 and Sonic & Knuckles cartridges this way, the two could be played as one complete story, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, a staggering 34 Megabit game with all three characters playable for the entirety, in essence recombining a split title.

The plot of Sonic 3 picks up after the Genesis version of Sonic 2. Sonic and Tails thought that they had destroyed the Death Egg, the heavily armored ship of Dr. Robotnik, also known as Dr. Eggman. Instead, Robotnik managed to crash land on the mysterious Floating Island,note Except for the name of the first zone in-game, the location was always referred to as the Floating Island until Sonic Adventure. making the island itself land on the ocean and lose its namesake. Learning that the island was able to float in the sky due to a connection with the Chaos Emeralds, Robotnik gets to work on his next scheme to obtain them and restore flight to the Death Egg. Sometime later, Sonic and Tails investigate the fallen Floating Island via Sonic's plane, the Tornado. Using the Chaos Emeralds, Sonic scouts ahead as Super Sonic, but almost immediately gets a face full of fist, courtesy of the island's native inhabitant: Knuckles, the only living descendant of the echidna civilization whose sworn duty is to guard the Emeralds. Knuckles is convinced that Sonic and Tails are thieves who intend to abuse the Emeralds. Why? Because Robotnik told him.

Advertisement:

By Sonic & Knuckles, Sonic learns that Knuckles is actually protecting a peculiar giant emerald known as the Master Emerald, a treasure of the ancient civilization. It is through its power that the Floating Island is able to stay afloat, and at the same time, it is even capable of augmenting the Chaos Emeralds. While Sonic continues to thwart Dr. Robotnik in this installment, Knuckles still occasionally waylays them with traps and all around acts as a thorn in his side. This finally comes to a head when the Hidden Palace is reached: during the scuffle between blue hedgehog and red echidna, Robotnik forgoes the Chaos Emeralds and bluntly nabs the Master Emerald, electrocuting Knuckles for standing in his way. Knuckles realizes he's been had, and immediately joins Sonic, showing him how to get out of the Hidden Palace and onto the Death Egg.

The plot of the Knuckles campaign in Sonic & Knuckles and Sonic 3 & Knuckles covers most of the same levels as Sonic's, and features Knuckles fighting one of Dr. Robotnik's persistent Eggrobos rather than the Doc himself, piloting souped-up versions of the level bosses. This culminates with a battle in the clouds against a Master Emerald-powered Evil Knockoff of Sonic. It's a bit unclear when this all occurs in relation to the plot of Sonic's game. Official sources, such as the game manuals, imply that both plots occur simultaneously. However, in-game details appear to contradict this, and suggest that Knuckles' plot begins shortly after the end of Sonic's plot.

The gameplay represented further Sequel Escalation compared to Sonic 2: The top speeds were even faster, the levels were even larger, and for the first time every Act featured a boss fight.note Although, if you play as Knuckles, you get to skip the Carnival Night and Lava Reef main bosses, and Hidden Palace is just an interstitial breather. There was more focus on plot as well. Knuckles's antagonism towards Sonic and Tails was shown through a number of in-level, wordless cutscenes, and every level ends with a brief scene of the characters traveling to the next level (the second act of each zone typically started exactly where the first act ended, with the player simply regaining control after the end-of-level sequence).

A number of game mechanics made their Sonic series debut here as well, such as a game save feature and specialized shields. The Special Stages from Sonic 2, where the Chaos Emeralds could be won, were revamped, and three different Bonus Stages were introduced, where extra rings and powerups could be collected. Cast Speciation (first introduced in the previous year's 8-bit title Sonic Chaos) was further developed: Sonic could make use of a brief, midair "Insta-Shield", and do a special attack while having one of the shields (a double jump with the Lightning Shield, a bounce attack with the Water Shield, a fiery charge attack with the Flame Shield); Tails could fly (by himself or while carrying Sonic) and swim; and Knuckles could glide and climb sheer walls, but couldn't run as fast or jump as high as Sonic.

Oddly enough for a franchise at its peak, this would be the last core series Sonic game until 1999's Sonic Adventure, which directly follows this one; the five-year absence of a main series Sonic game can be attributed to the lack of interest from Sonic Team in continuing the franchise at the time and the excessively Troubled Production of Sonic X-Treme, a Sega Saturn game that ended up becoming vaporware thanks to a barrage of internal conflicts within Sega. For a while, Sonic the Hedgehog 4 was deemed its proper sequel.note Though the Excuse Plot of Episode I doesn't suggest it. However, Sonic Mania has since taken that mantle.

And I Must Scream: Subverted. When you beat the Lava Reef Zone boss, Dr. Robotnik sinks into the lava, which cools and hardens seconds later, seemingly trapping him inside. After the Knuckles fight in Hidden Palace Zone, though, he's shown to be perfectly fine.

Another Side, Another Story: Maybe. It's hard to tell, given the minimalist style of 16-bit-era storytelling, but Knuckles's adventure might actually take place after Sonic's; see here for an analysis.

Anti-Climax: The standalone Sonic 3 ending is very much this, especially compared to the ending of the previous installment: Launch Base Zone is nowhere as sinister or menacing as Scrap Brain Zone or Metropolis Zone, the recurring villain Knuckles is disposed of in a cutscene where Sonic does absolutely nothing, and the final battle ends with the Death Egg exploding moments after taking off. This is fixed, however, by locking the game on to Sonic & Knuckles, making Launch Base Zone the halfway point of the game, retconning the explosion of the Death Egg, and featuring a confrontation with Knuckles and his HeelFace Turn, as well as a memorable Astral Finale.

Tails normally has limited flying stamina, but that limitation is suspended while fighting Robotnik in Marble Garden Zone Act 2, where he'll keep flying for the duration of the boss fight, even if it takes 10 minutes.

In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, many of the traps in the Sonic 3 levels have been removed, making most of the levels, particularly Carnival Night and Launch Base, much quicker and easier.note The CompleteGame Mod restores many of these to their Sonic 3 layouts. In addition, all completed files from Sonic 3 can continue on from Mushroom Hill Zone instead of starting the game all over again.

Artistic License  Physics: Granted, the game was never meant to be physically realistic, but one notable point is that the second phase of The Doomsday Zone's boss implies the presence of drag in space, given that the ship shoots bombs forward, that then slow down and fall behind.

Astral Finale: Death Egg Zone and The Doomsday Zone take place in space.

Audible Sharpness: For the first time, you can hear Tails using his tails as rotary blades, and weaponize them, too.

A Winner Is You: Played straight by the stand-alone Sonic 3, which has a very abrupt and anticlimactic ending that was clearly thrown together at the last minute in order to get the game out in time. Averted by Sonic & Knuckles and the combined Sonic 3 & Knuckles, which have a variety of different endings depending on how well you did, even if none of them are quite as iconic as that of the previous game.

Berserk Button: The second stage of the Death Egg Zone's miniboss seems to have one: it will start spinning a pair of spiked platforms extremely rapidly while firing off a massive laser beam if you attack it.

"Special Stages:" A 3D maze where you must "Get Blue Spheres". Finishing earns you a Chaos Emerald. Accessible via giant rings hidden in the levels.

"Bonus Stages:" Stages for collecting rings and powerups. Accessible via a circle of stars that appear if you pass a star post with 20 or more rings, much like the Special Stages in Sonic 2. There are three types, and all three are in play in the locked-on game:

A giant gumball machine that Sonic can turn by bouncing back and forth on platforms that then disappear. Each gumball represents different power-up items (rings, shields, extra lives, etc). There's a set of springs at the bottom that break away when you hit them; they can be restored with one of the gumballs, but falling past it ends the stage. This is the only Bonus Stage in Sonic 3 alone.

A 360-rotating area that is a Genre Throwback to the Sonic 1-style Special Stages with most of the same blocks, except with a Casino Night-esque slot machine (and similar results including losing rings if you end up getting three Eggmen) in the center of the stage instead of a Chaos Emerald. The corners each have goal zones, and rolling on one of the blocks on the border changes its color; after three changes, it becomes a goal block; you eventually need to hit a goal to leave. Present in Sonic & Knuckles standalone.

A pinball-type arena with a glowing, upward-climbing double helix at the bottom that continuously rises upward. This is the only of the three stages that the player can "beat" by reaching the top of the stage before getting caught in the helix. In order to move up, Sonic has to fling off energy spheres, and the smaller bubbles release the gumball prizes, which rise up and away; the higher up you get, the better the prizes. Present in Sonic & Knuckles standalone.

Book-Ends: The game begins with Sonic flying towards Floating Island by plane and ends with him leaving. By collecting all Emeralds, Sonic also brings the Master Emerald back to Knuckles, who had taken the Chaos Emeralds from him in the beginning.

Boring, but Practical: Sonic's Insta-Shield looks pretty underwhelming compared to the abilities of Tails and Knuckles, which allow far more expansive exploration and Easter Egg locating. However, when mastered, its split second invincibility can make obstacles and bosses a breeze.

Boss-Only Level: The Doomsday Zone. Technically applies to the Death Egg and Lava Reef bosses as well, if only by programming. Knuckles's version of Sky Sanctuary also qualifies, as it consists of his last two bosses and no platforming whatsoever.

Boss Rush: Sky Sanctuary Zone is a rehash of bosses from previous games.

Brick Joke: As you run through Launch Base Zone Act 1, you'll eventually find Dr. Robotnik carrying some sort of box around. That's the stage's midboss. When you defeat it, you might notice there are another two boxes in the wall. Those are the ones Knuckles will later fight in his version of the level.

Brutal Bonus Level: There is a secret special stage in Sonic 3 that can be played from the sound test menu and it is rough, requiring very skilled handling to not prematurely jump or turn, especially towards the end when the stage is running at max speed. Sonic & Knuckles has an extra special stage of its own but it's far easier (and somewhat sparse). Both of these stages were resurrected for Sonic Mania's bonus stages, with the only change being to the Sonic 3 stage (replacing a few spheres with rings).

Bubbly Clouds: Sky Sanctuary Zone is set in the sky, though most of the stage itself is a floating castle.

But Thou Must!: This is no way to avoid freeing the ghosts in Sandopolis Zone Act 2; it's past a loop with a chute below it that forcibly drops you onto the Capsule holding them, and there are no other routes for Sonic and Tails to take (the ghosts are already waiting for Knuckles, who has more choices for routes at the start of the act). Even if you use Debug Mode to move past the capsule without pressing the button, the game will eventually decide you ought to have pushed the button by now and magically let them out anyway.

Cast Speciation: Back in Sonic 2, Sonic and Tails controlled the same way. Here, the player can actually make Tails fly to skip platforming areas. Meanwhile, Sonic can trivialize quite a few tough enemies and bosses with the invincibility on his Insta-Shield. On top of that, the elemental shields grant him useful mobility options. Like Tails, Knuckles' gliding and climbing abilities make him useful for platforming, but his low jump can make certain spots more difficult to overcome. The lowered jump height of Knuckles is actually used to seal off Sonic/Tails-only parts of levels, while the reverse is often accomplished via gliding or wall climbing.

The breakable objects that Knuckles could break through to reveal alternate paths through the levels were this in the standalone Sonic 3, as the player could clearly see pathways behind some of them, but had no way to get there until Sonic & Knuckles was released.note While it's possible to use the Debug Mode to access Knuckles' paths, doing so in Sonic 3 will often result in you hitting a kill plane because the scripts for these areas don't exist in the standalone game.

The Japanese manual for Sonic 3 states that Knuckles knows of the prophecy found in the Hidden Palace and that the Death Egg is an omen, comparing it to the egg of the prophetic dragon.

Circling Birdies: Happens to Knuckles after Dr. Robotnik shocks him in Sonic's version of Hidden Palace Zone.

Coconut Meets Cranium: Like its predecessor Ai Ai/Coconuts, the Monkey Dude badnik throws coconuts at the player's character, which can hit them on the head if they're not careful.

Collision Damage: When fighting Knuckles, he'll normally punch you if you walk on him. However, if you recover a ring and walk into him again until your invincibility fades, you'll see that he's actually coded to take damage from mundane contact.

The Archie comic had a short adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in issue #13, and also a 48-page special based on Sonic & Knuckles. Neither story actually featured the Death Egg (as that was saved for a later mini-series).

Sonic the Comic had Robotnik's second Death Egg being stuck on the Floating Island for the span of about 19 issues, the first four of which adapted the plot of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, and the last five of which were based on the closing levels of Sonic & Knuckles.

Inverted in Hidden Palace Zone: In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Sonic can be airlifted by Tails to a hidden area where there are 30 extra rings. With those and the other rings that aren't hidden, Sonic can turn into Super Sonic or Hyper Sonic for the Knuckles battle.

When Tails transforms, as any boss or enemy (except Knuckles) will get pecked to death by Tails' Super Flickies.

See Idle Animation, but also, after Knuckles lowers the bridge for you in Sky Sanctuary Zone, ducking next to him makes him look at your character and wave his arm, as if telling you to go on without him.

In Sonic's continue screen, Tails tugs at his arm while pointing forward.

Conjoined Eyes: Particularly noticeable on the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 title screen, in which the middle of Sonic's brow actually lowers to separate his eyes whenever he winks.

Continuity Nod: Many details and changes in scenery make it clear that, mess-ups aside, Knuckles's story takes place after Sonic defeats Dr. Robotnik.

Convection Schmonvection: Two-thirds of Angel Island Zone is in the middle of a massive forest fire, yet the characters don't seem to mind. And naturally, Lava Reef Zone's lava only hurts you if you actually touch it.

Conveyor Belt o' Doom: Death Egg Zone has elevators with conveyor belts that randomly switch direction and try to force Sonic into spikes or gun turrets.

Co-Op Multiplayer: As in the previous game, a second player can control Tails when playing as Sonic and Tails in single player, the difference being that Player 2 can now fly with Tails as well as pick up Sonic and carry him around. Versus mode is back as well.

Covers Always Lie: The North American Sonic 3 box art features Robotnik setting Angel Island Zone on fire in the background. In-game, however, it's the miniboss of Angel Island Zone Act 1 who is actually responsible for doing this.

Cut-and-Paste Translation: The North American Sonic 3 manual does not elaborate on Sonic and Tails's motivation for visiting the Floating Island, or the legend of the Floating Island itself for that matter, implying that the game takes place immediately after Sonic 2 when in actuality some time has passed since then, explaining how Robotnik is already well-established on the island. It also leaves out Knuckles' side of the story, which involved the Master Emerald (though erroneously under the name of the "Chaos Emerald"), which the North American manual interpreted as meaning that Knuckles was the guardian of the Chaos Emeralds. The North American Sonic & Knuckles manual was also simplified, removing that part about Sonic realizing that Robotnik rushed the Death Egg before launch. Additionally, when the Mushroom Hill sequence exclusive to Sonic 3 & Knuckles is dramatized, the international version implies that Knuckles' story happens simultaneously with Sonic's ("Whoever threw that bomb is in DEEP trouble."), despite evidence to the contrary.

In the opening cutscene of Sonic's story, Knuckles manages to knock the Chaos Emeralds out of Super Sonic. He can't repeat this feat in his eventual boss fight, as you can become Super Sonic, run up to him, and watch him get KO'd.

In Knuckles's best ending, he changes into his Super/Hyper form with no more than three rings, catches the Master Emerald in midair, and holds it with one arm while balancing on a tiny plane thousands of feet in the air. After the credits, he flies into space.

Damn You, Muscle Memory!: In most 2D platformers featuring Gravity Screw, the "up" and "down" controls are reversed along with the gravity. Not so in the Death Egg Zone in this game. Interestingly, Yuji Naka claims that there was a survey held prior to the game's release about whether the controls should be reversed in those particular segments, and that the majority decided that they shouldn't be.

Darkness = Death: Sandopolis Zone Act 2, once the ghosts are released. They become scary-looking and start to attack the player non-stop a little bit after the area is in complete darkness. Grab a light switch to prevent this from happening.

Degraded Boss: Tunnelbot, the miniboss of Marble Garden Zone, reappears as a scaled-up jackhammer bot for a single cutscene in Lava Reef Zone. Though more imposing, all it does is make the floor collapse—and in Sonic's and Tails's version of the level, the bot falls into lava and blows up immediately after.

While most of the environmental hazards of the game can be rendered harmless with the right shield, using the wrong shield in certain areas will cause the player to lose it.note For example, the player will lose the Lightning or Flame Shield when they enter an underwater area.

If you somehow manage to access Knuckles's boss in Marble Garden Zone Act 2 as Sonic or Tails, Dr. Robotnik will be the one riding the machine, not Eggrobo. Likewise, if you use the Debug Mode to get Knuckles to Sonic and Tails's boss, Tails will still be there to carry the echidna.

There is a proper Eggrobo boss for Knuckles in Carnival Night Zone Act 2, if you can access it.

Using the Debug Mode while playing as Knuckles so that you can get to the part in Launch Base Zone Act 2 where Sonic steals one of the Egg-O-Matics will result in the NPC Knuckles not appearing in the cutscene should you cause the playable Knuckles to ride it to Sonic's boss arena. It still reacts as if the NPC Knuckles is still there, however, resulting in it being "knocked back" by an invisible wall.

In the Sonic and/or Tails game, if you exploit the Debug Mode in order to avoid releasing the ghosts in Sandopolis Zone Act 2, the game will correct itself when you go to the next checkpoint by spawning them anyway.

Sonic's Insta-Shield. Slightly increases the range at which you can hurt enemies, and allows you to phase though things like projectiles, invincible enemies, and other terrain hazards. It only lasts a split second, though, so good timing is an absolute must.

Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, and Super Tails are this in a nutshell, but for different reasons. It's an unbelievable pain to get them, requiring all 14 Emeralds across two whole games, and if you fail to get all the Chaos Emeralds in the Sonic 3 portion, you're locked out of getting them. If you do manage to obtain all of them, however, you're granted access to Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, and Super Tails, who have their own set of moves and abilities. They also look awesome.

Difficulty Spike: Knuckles' playthrough is much more difficult than Sonic's, as his jump height is poorer, his unique paths are either more boxed-in or have a higher hazard density, and his bosses are far more aggressive and harder to hit.

Divergent Character Evolution: While Sonic and Tails played almost identically in Sonic 2, all three characters have specific abilities that can change the way they're played:

Sonic gains extra maneuverability when he has a shield or is Hyper Sonic (he gets a double jump in any direction). His Insta-Shield extends his hitbox, as well. As a result, Sonic is generally played more aggressively and recklessly.

Tails has a slightly smaller sprite, and can fly and swim. While flying, his tails become a hitbox, but the rest of him is vulnerable. He cannot go Super with only the Chaos Emeralds, but with the Super Emeralds, he gains homing attack Flickies. Tails is generally played more evasively, circumventing level hazards rather than blazing through them.

Knuckles can glide and climb, and has very poor jump height, which makes it necessary for him to punch through rock walls and access special level routes. Because of his poor jump and unfamiliar levels, and the slow initial speed of his gliding and climbing, Knuckles is usually played cautiously and tactically.

Do Well, but Not Perfect: If you've collected even one of the Super Emeralds, you're considered to not have a full set of 7 Chaos Emeralds. As such, you can't go Super (if playing as Sonic or Knuckles), although you will still be able to transform into Super Sonic when you reach The Doomsday Zone and get the good ending. Of course, this is downplayed in that doing perfect (i.e. collecting all 7 Super Emeralds) earns you Hyper Mode and the best ending, so it's more like do either mediocre or perfect but not well.

Dreadful Dragonfly: This game introduced the Dragonfly badniks, which have spiky abdomen that they use to skewer Sonic and Knuckles.

Dropped a Bridge on Him: Eggrobo. After spending the entirety of Knuckles's story as the primary antagonist, he gets destroyed by the Mecha Sonic right before the final boss battle begins.

Dual Boss: The Launch Base Zone Mini-Boss for Knuckles (Sonic and Tails dealt with only one of the spinning spike core bosses; Knuckles fights two and with less room to maneuver). This also occurs briefly for Knuckles in Sky Sanctuary Zone with Eggrobo and the Mecha Sonic before the latter accidentally destroys the former.

Dub-Induced Plot Hole: A weird reverse case (or not, considering this release came out months later), but the Japanese Sonic 3 manual storyline has a point of view for both Sonic and Knuckles — and while Sonic should have the Chaos Emeralds, Knuckles seems to take care of another set.

Per the usual for Robotnik at this point. However, in Sonic 3, all the Badniks have the same name in the English and Japanese versions. Averted in Sonic & Knuckles, which has separate names for all of them (except Eggrobo/EggRobo) in the manuals, as well as later materials such as the Japanese Sonic Jam Official Guide, which gave the Sonic 3 Badniks alternate names for some reason. Also in the Japanese strategy guide are names for all of the boss machines (like Sonic 2) except the final one, although certain English equivalents do exist in obscure publications such as the Official Sonic 3 Play Guide or the mail-in Sega of America walkthroughs (aka "hint sheets" or "cheat sheets").

The Sonic robot seen in Sky Sanctuary, originally known as Mecha Sonic in Japan, was given many official names: "Metal Sonic" on the back of the North American box, "Robotic Sonic" in a mail-in Sega of America walkthrough, and the "Evil Sonic" in a Sonic the Comic Q Zone (mini-walkthroughs for Sega games). Eventually, the Sonic DimensionsDLC in LEGO Dimensions used with his Japanese name despite never coming out in Japan, and gave his previous model from the 16-bit Sonic the Hedgehog 2 the name of "Robo Sonic" (one of the Dub Name Changes previously given to that incarnation) to differentiate them.

Dueling Player Characters: During the Hidden Palace Zone, Sonic finally gets to fight Knuckles, who had been hindering him at every available opportunity after being told by Dr. Robotnik that Sonic was in fact the villain of the two. The inverse doesn't happen, as Knuckles's story takes place after Sonic's and they're no longer foes by this point.

Much of Knuckles' content is present in the Sonic 3 cartridge, but can't be accessed without attaching it to the Sonic & Knuckles cartridge. Also happens in reverse: in the combined game, when you play Launch Base Zone (the final level of Sonic 3) as Sonic or Tails, the game skips over the original final boss of the level (including the awesome ending music). Though you do still fight it if you play as Knuckles.

The standalone Sonic 3 cartridge has the Sonic & Knuckles miniboss music dummied out. You can hear it during the Hydrocity Zone Act 1 boss fight if you wait until the drowning music starts, then jump out of the water.

Another reversed example: the infinite oxygen of the Water Shield is useless in the standalone Sonic & Knuckles, as it does not contain a single underwater section.

The Sonic & Knuckles music is in the Sonic 3 cartridge. All of it. In the sound test, most of the Zone music that exists in track 09 onward is from Sonic & Knuckles.

Tails in Sonic & Knuckles, and the glitched "Super Tails" form in Sonic 3 (which suggested that Tails was intended to have a Flicky-less state similar to Super Sonic and Super Knuckles, which eventually happened in the mobile version of Sonic the Hedgehog).

Standalone Sonic 3 has a special, eighth special stage that can only be accessed via a cheat code on the level select screen. It consists of an extremely difficult spiral layout, with no rings nor room for error due to its shape. However, it was eventually used in Sonic Mania.

Easy Levels, Hard Bosses: When you play as Tails, the levels are incredibly easy thanks to his flight, but you'll probably run into a brick wall with some of the bosses thanks to Tails' lack of an Insta-Shield. The Marble Garden boss is especially hard since you will be fighting it alone and cannot jump at it (the only way that Tails can damage the boss is by maneuvering to fly into it from underneath with his propellers).

Epic Battle Boredom: Players can pull this off as Super Tails by standing idly in a heated battle. He yawns while his Flickies take care of the fighting, and anyone who reaches Tails himself will suffer Collision Damage from him.

Episodic Game: Sonic 3 by itself has the first six Zones and Sonic & Knuckles has the last eight Zones. You can "Lock-On" both cartridges together and play one big combined game, Sonic 3 & Knuckles. This was originally not the plan with the game; the entire S3&K package was supposed to be released as simply one game, but time constraints forced Sega to split the game in half so they could get half of it onto store shelves and the other half done later.

Evil Knockoff: Mecha Sonic. Ironically, in the first two fights, he uses Dr. Robotnik's tactics by reusing boss machines from previous games. In Knuckles's playthrough, he's The Man Behind the Man and the final boss.

In Sonic 3 standalone, Robotnik's Big Arm machine is the last boss fought, appearing right after Sonic or Tails destroy his laser airship on the platform below the Death Egg.

In Sonic & Knuckles, a giant version of the Death Egg Robot awaits Sonic/Tails at the end of Death Egg Zone Act 2, after a previous boss is destroyed. It has three phases, with the last being Robotnik trying to flee with the Master Emerald while the station crumbles. If Sonic has all the Chaos/Super Emeralds after defeating this, he goes on to The Doomsday Zone, but if you're playing as Tails or do not have all the Emeralds, the game ends.

The last boss for Knuckles is Mecha Sonic. The first phase of the fight with him is the same as the last fight with Mecha Sonic in Sonic/Tails's Sky Sanctuary, but after defeating him here, he jets back to the Master Emerald and goes super for a second phase.

Floating Continent: The setting of the game, although it got knocked out of the sky by the Death Egg's crash landing prior to Sonic's arrival. It gets raised at the end of Sonic's story path and remains afloat throughout Knuckles's until Mecha Sonic steals the Master Emerald, which causes the island to fall back to the sea if the player fails to get the good ending.

Foreshadowing: When fighting against Knuckles, there is a background mural depicting Dr. Robotnik stealing the Master Emerald, and Super Sonic attempting to stop him. Guess what you have to do in the true final level?

Four-Seasons Level: Mushroom Hill Zone Act 1 is filled with green plant-life. Almost immediately after starting Act 2, everything becomes orange. Near the end of the level the grass and trees turn a dull yellow. At the end of the level, you destroy a weather control dish and things return to being lush and green in time for the Boss Battle.

Fungus Humongous: Mushroom Hill Zone has mushrooms large enough to bounce on, use as a seesaw catapult, and parachute from.

The American manual acknowledges the possibility of these and Hand Waves them as "diabolical traps" set up by Robotnik, even referring to the problem of having to reset the game or time out due to getting stuck. It particularly recommends you to activate a Star Post or enter a Special Stage at the most immediate opportunity if you are playing as Tails in IceCap Zone Act 1, due to a programming quirk that was fixed in the lock-on game where, due to starting at a different point of the level, Tails will die spontaneously if he reaches a vertical Wrap Around point without meeting the manual's recommended precaution.

If you kill the Marble Garden Act 1 boss off-screen by using co-op Tails, as soon as the goalpost lands, the game crashes. This only happens in standalone Sonic 3; Sonic 3 & Knuckles will force the camera to the right if you defeat the boss off-screen to prevent the crash.

Hyper Sonic is a virtual game breaking machine, since the developers more than likely didn't fully test him, given that he was a last second throw-in that is normally only usable at the end of both games. But start the game back up from the first Act, and you get enough bugs to fill up three hours worth of glitch videos on YouTube. Luckily for most players, many of these are almost impossible to trigger while playing normally.

Tails can also trigger several game breaking bugs (usually exploiting the fact that he doesn't clip with objects in the world if he is just off screen), but most of these also require the player to intentionally go out of their way.

Some copies of standalone Sonic 3 have a real showstopper. Sometimes when you beat the boss of Hydrocity Zone Act 2 as Tails, the screen remains locked in place and won't let you go over to the capsule, thus forcing the player to reset the game and play the entire level all over again.

The debug cheat allows for a variety of these. One common bug is to enter sprite placement mode while the player character is spinning. The graphics will glitch up momentarily, then the game will reset.

In the PC version, since the timer doesn't resume at the second Launch Base Zone Act 2 boss, you can't activate your Super State while fighting the boss (or even the third boss in Sonic 3 alone).

After the Angel Island Zone is set on fire, there isn't really any dramatic change to the gameplay to indicate that the Zone's on fire. No coming face-to-face with flaming walls or anything. It has basically no gameplay effect whatsoever, aside from one zip line that cuts off fairly quickly because a small section of it is burning halfway down (oh, and floating Catakiller, Jr. enemies start appearing in the flaming sections, as do spiked logs).

Knuckles shuts off the lights in Carnival Night Zone, but aside from raising the water level for all of 30 seconds, it seems to do nothing except show off how much of a prick he is. You turn the lights back on a little bit later.

Go for the Eye: The boss of Death Egg Zone Act 1 is a reactor core machine with an eye. The eye is the target; you cannot damage any other part of the boss.

Gotta Catch 'Em All: In Sonic 3, there are seven Chaos Emeralds to collect, and getting all of them lets you use the first Super State (unless you're playing as Tails). In Sonic & Knuckles, they inexplicably have to be collected again — but if Sonic 3 & Knuckles is played, the collected jewels can instead be powered up into the Super Emeralds... and collected again, for a total of 14 Emeralds. Getting the second set lets you use your Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, or Super Tails (who previously could not use the Chaos Emeralds).

Gravity Screw: Used extensively in Death Egg Zone, as well as the anti-gravity platforms in Carnival Night. Debug Mode allows you to reverse the player character's gravity at will.

One of the most infamous examples of all time: there is one point in Carnival Night Zone Act 2 where a red-and-white cylinder is blocking your pathnote nicknamed The Barrel of Doom. The only way to proceed is by standing on the barrel and pressing up and down on the D-Pad as the barrel wobbles. There's absolutely nothing in the game itself to suggest this. It is possible to get past it with well-timed jumps (jumping on it is the only action that gives obvious feedback) and turbo Spin Dashing under it as it recoils back up, but it is certainly not the intended solution and it's too easy to run out of time trying to pull it off (which is sadly easy because this is also the longest Act in the game with a long boss fight if you play it safe).

The "Death Ball" boss of Death Egg Act 2 drops spiked cars, and the seemingly obvious method of defeating it is to use the gravity tubes to make them fall up into it. Unwieldy as this is, it does work, which means many fans never figure out the intended method of attacking it, which is to Spin Dash into the cars while they're stuck in the ceiling.

Hard Levels, Easy Bosses: If you play as Sonic, you don't have Tails's flight to trivialize all the platforming, but the Insta-Shield gives you a huge attack range, and gives you the ability to bypass protections that certain bosses possess.

The boss of Marble Garden Zone Act 2, which is fought by having Tails fly Sonic to chase after it.

All the final bosses.

Homage: The item monitors strongly resemble Apple Macintoshcomputers.◊ Possibly a reference to the fact that Macs were often used to program Mega Drive games, since at the time they utilized the same Motorola 68k CPU used by the console.

Dr. Robotnik's depth charges in the boss fight of Hydrocity are the means by which you launch up to hit him.

The mid-boss of Carnival Night Zone has a spinning disc with spikes on the edge. The disc is supposed to destroy the floor beneath your feet but if you hit the machine, it opens up and when the disc makes contact, will damage the machine.

The Act 1 boss at the Flying Battery can be beat by making it hit itself in the head by standing on top of it and running away really quickly.

The first Act 2 boss of Flying Battery causes the whole place to shudder and collapse by recklessly firing into the floor.

The mid-boss of Sandopolis will leap into a sand pit (hitting him does no good except throws him backward).

The boss of Lava Reef is destroyed when his mines slide into him.

The first boss of Death Egg Zone Act 2 launches rolling spiked mines at you but if you reverse the gravity when the spikes are facing the machine launching them, they will damage it instead of you.

Hub Level: The area where the Master Emerald is kept becomes sort of a Hub Bonus Level when playing the second half of the linked game; entering a giant ring sends you there, where you can choose which Super Emerald you'll try to obtain.

As in the previous games, Sonic will look at the player and tap his foot impatiently if the player does nothing for several seconds, occasionally pointing in the direction he's currently facing. A Dummied Out animation had him falling asleep as well.

Tails will stare at the player and occasionally yawn.

Knuckles will start boxing impatiently.

Immediate Sequel: To Sonic the Hedgehog 2. This is partially subverted in the manual, as we don't know how much time passed since Robotnik landed on the Floating Island and the time Sonic and Tails got there, but played straight for Sonic & Knuckles.

Inverted in Hydrocity Zone. Sonic doesn't run on conveyor belts; he hangs from them, and uses them to get to places he couldn't reach without their presence.

Exaggerated in Death Egg Zone. Some of the conveyor belts are moving platforms which Sonic must take to progress, and they're designed to change direction whenever it's most inconvenient in order to push him into wall spikes or throw him into big ol' bug zappers.

Infinity -1 Sword: Super Sonic and Super Knuckles. Sure, they are invincible and can move incredibly fast, but that pales in comparison to...

Hyper Sonic and Hyper Knuckles. Not only does the Hyper form make you just as fast as the Super form, but you also get secondary abilities; Sonic gets a double jump that creates a flash that kills all enemies on screen while Knuckles can glide faster, climb walls faster, and create an earthquake that kills all enemies on screen by gliding into a wall. The Hyper form also lets you breathe underwater, though you'll only see this in a New Game+, because none of the Sonic & Knuckles Zones actually have any water.

Super Tails is Tails's equivalent to a Hyper form. In addition to invincibility, he gains an army of Flickies that will shred any enemy that even appears on screen while you just sit there and watch.

Infinite 1-Ups: Those alarm lights that trigger flying enemies in Launch Base Zone. Hold down a Spin Dash in one of those alarms, and a constant stream of enemies will fly right into you and be destroyed. The score given for the chain of hits eventually results in one life being granted every 3 seconds,note After you destroy 12 enemies, you get 10,000 points for each enemy destroyed; you get a one-up every 50,000 points. and even if you die by time out, since it's before the first checkpoint, you can just walk back there and do it again.

Invisible Wall: Appears in a cutscene in Carnival Night Act 2, and just before the first boss battle in Launch Base Act 2.

After beating the boss of Flying Battery Zone Act 2, it's possible to land on the spiked grips of the boss and die.

After beating the mid-boss of Sandopolis Zone Act 1, it's possible to die by touching the boss before he finishes sinking into the quicksand. This, like most other cases, is worsened by the fact that Super and Hyper forms instantly end when you beat the boss of any act.

If you beat the boss of Lava Reef Zone Act 2 while in Super or Hyper form, you automatically change back to your normal form while likely standing in lava. The lava goes away several seconds later after you've had enough time to lose all of your rings, bounce, lose your mercy invincibility, and die.

The final fight ends with an autoscrolling section where you have to hit the bottom of Dr. Robotnik's escape vehicle. Because the floor is crumbling at the same rate that the screen is scrolling, you have to stay on the right side of the screen at all times but hitting the vehicle bounces you to the left and makes you slide a lot. The problem comes when you land the final hit and the screen instantly stops scrolling at the same time that nearly all of the floor suddenly breaks at once. Surviving requires you to be super close to the right corner of the screen when you land the final hit & requires you to land the hit in exactly the right way. Logically, there should be no wrong way because hitting the vehicle should bounce you to the right.

Levels Take Flight: Flying Battery Zone features a few segments where the player must navigate the outside portions of Dr. Robotnik's blimp.

Load-Bearing Boss: The gigantic Robotnik mecha at the end of Death Egg Zone. Makes sense, since it not only contains the power source for the whole station, but is also so darn huge that crash landing into the superstructure would certainly do the trick.

Logo Joke: In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the Sega logo remains in place as a blue ball blazes towards the camera before revealing itself to be Sonic, followed by a white flash that leads into the title screen. In Sonic & Knuckles, the Sega logo remains as the background turns into the Floating Island, rumbles and splits apart as the Death Egg crashes on the island's volcano in the background, and voila, title screen.

Some of the music from the individual Sonic the Hedgehog 3 gets Dummied Out if you're playing the two games in tandem, including the fantastic miniboss music.

If you are playing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 by itself and do anything that makes the music temporarily change (gain invincibility and have it wear off, start drowning and then jump out of the water, etc.) during either Hydrocity Zone boss, the song will switch to the Sonic & Knuckles mid-boss music instead of going back to the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 version (which isn't on this mid-boss anyway; the regular boss music is used instead). The tune otherwise doesn't appear in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 at all.

The stages, compared to previous games in the series, are exceptionally long, but both acts of Sandopolis Zone and Carnival Zone Act 2 definitely stand out. This was possibly done to make up for the small amount of levels after the game was split into two.

Good luck finishing Death Egg Zone Act 2 (where your time at the end of the stage carries over to the big boss fight area) in under 10 minutes.

Launch Base Zone Act 2, when playing Sonic 3 alone. The main body of the level contains an easily missed shortcut, but if you don't know your way around, you'll be forced into a massive detour. Then you have to fight three bosses, with a cutscene in between that (unlike in the locked-on game) continues to run down the timer. Oh, and the last boss has an annoying phase in which he goes back and forth at the top of the screen, then the bottom; during this period you can't hit him. Like every other stage, your time limit for the entirety of this is 10 minutes. This is mitigated in Sonic 3 & Knuckles by cutting out the battle against Big Arm and relegating the fight to Knuckles' game.note The Sonic 3 CompleteGame Mod restores the entire boss endurance run in full for Sonic and Tails' games.

While Sonic and Knuckles unlock their Super forms after getting 7 Emeralds, Tails doesn't unlock his until he collects all 14 Emeralds. However, his Super Tails abilities (particularly the four birds who will attack any enemies or bosses in Tails's vicinity) are even more of a Game-Breaker than Hyper Sonic or Hyper Knuckles when it comes to bosses, as they let you can literally kill almost every boss just by standing in one spot (since you're invincible) and letting the birds kill the boss for you. When combined with Tails' Idle Animation, this leads to an amusing Ass-Kicking Pose.

Mineral MacGuffin: The Master Emerald and the various Chaos Emeralds. The former powers the Floating Island and keeps it, well, afloat, with the Chaos Emeralds being other major power sources that power the characters' Super and Hyper forms.

Minus World: As Hyper Sonic, you can glitch-dash through walls into areas normally only accessible by Knuckles. A Pandora's Box of further glitches can be triggered from here.

Mirror Boss: Knuckles, if you play as Sonic and/or Tails, though he's ridiculously easy to beat. He is pretty much the same Knuckles you can play as, with the additions of a punch attack and the ability to block by ducking. He even takes Collision Damage, though trying to walk into him will just get you punched. But you can stand in front of him and get Tails to walk into him from behind if playing as Sonic and Tails. Tails takes damage too, but he's invincible (in 2P mode). If Knuckles drops from a glide on your head, only he'll take collision damage.

Misguided Missile: This is how you have to hurt the first boss of The Doomsday Zone, by luring its homing missiles into hitting the cockpit.

Mobile Factory: The Flying Battery Zone. This level features a bunch of capsules in Act 1 that contain various stuff (including Badniks).

Mutually Exclusive Powerups: The three shields. The player can only carry one at a time, and breaking a shield monitor with a different shield from the one you have will make the new shield replace the old one.

Multiple Endings: Sonic has three endings depending on whenever he defeats Dr. Robotnik without the Chaos Emeralds, whenever he completes The Doomsday Zone as Super Sonic or whenever he completes The Doomsday Zone as Hyper Sonic. While "defeating Robotnik without the Chaos Emeralds" is the standard Downer Ending where Robotnik is still shown to have the Master Emerald within the game's Stinger, the two Doomstay Zone-related endings, in contrast, are very similar, only differing in their respective Stingers - the Super Sonic ending has a Stinger which ties his story to that of Knuckles' story (Where an Eggrobo can be seen on a pile of other wrecked Eggrobos, with the implication that this is the exact same Eggrobo that fights Knuckles in Robotnik's stead), while the Hyper Sonic ending shows Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles all standing by the Sonic 3 & Knuckles logo.

Never Trust a Trailer: A promotional image for Sonic & Knuckles shows Sonic and Knuckles teaming up to fight the Final Boss of Sonic 3 in Mushroom Hill. As far as anyone can tell, this was purely a mockup. Even with the Debug Mode, there's no way to replicate this scenario in-game.

New Powers as the Plot Demands: Tails usually tires out after a few seconds of flying. However, at the end of Marble Garden Zone Act 2, he flies for an entire boss fight. Afterwards, Tails heads over to the next zone without taking a break.

Nintendo Hard: At first, Tails appears to be easier to play than Sonic because he has a lot of freedom of movement, including flying and free swimming in water, but fighting the Marble Garden boss with just Tails is immensely difficult because you can only safely hit Robotnik's ship from the underside with your spinning tails while avoiding the drill and the jet exhaust, and it's nearly impossible to recollect any lost rings. Also, unlike Sonic and Knuckles, Tails cannot access a Super form with just the Chaos Emeralds. Thus, he cannot access it at all in Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Tails can only access this in Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

Par for the course with Dr. Robotnik. Upon being defeated in Lava Reef Zone, his craft is engulfed in lava (which instantly hardens).

After defeating Dr. Robotnik for the last time in The Doomsday Zone, his ship falls apart and burns up on re-entry, exploding off-screen in a blinding light.

No Pronunciation Guide: Is it "Hydro City Zone", or "Hydrocity (rhymes with velocity) Zone?" The original Japanese script points towards the former, but there are those who still go with the latter mainly because it sounds cooler.

In Sky Sanctuary Zone, you fight a rehash of the wrecking-ball boss from Sonic 1's Green Hill Zone, and the boss with the spinning things from Sonic 2's Metropolis Zone.note Interestingly, the slight alterations of sprite proportions and game physics made both fights rather different from the originals. The Green Hill boss was originally a Warmup Boss; here he's rather harder to damage without hitting the wrecking ball on the rebound. The original Metropolis Zone boss could only be safely hit at one point in his attack pattern; here, the boss is significantly easier because he can also be damaged while he's at the top of the screen doing nothing — plus you have the Insta-Shield to pierce his shield.

Not So Invincible After All: A mild one, but in Sonic 2, Super Sonic all but insured the player was unstoppable outside the depleting ring counter and the occasional glitch. In Sonic 3, a few more scenarios are created specifically to give even the super forms a difficult time. The Doomsday Zone boss basically consists of Robotnik directly stalling and blindsiding Super Sonic until he'll power out and fall to his death, while both Knuckles and the Big Arm mecha are capable of harming and depowering a Super form upon introduction.

Obvious Rule Patch: Sonic 3 & Knuckles has this for some bugs which occurred in Sonic the Hedgehog 3 alone. Possibly the most blatant example is a music glitch that could occur late in the first Act each of the Angel Island and IceCap Zones, which had a special case fix applied for exactly one of the four places which could trigger it.

Off-Model: While watching the Death Egg fall at the end of Launch Base Zone Act 2, Tails has two tiny tails where his normal ones would usually be & two normal ones on the left side of his waist.

Oxygenated Underwater Bubbles: Present throughout Hydrocity Zone, and can be released by bursting open underwater balloons in Carnival Night Zone Act 2. There's also water in Angel Island Zone, and Act 2 of both IceCap Zone and Launch Base Zone, but you have to use Debug Mode to access the bubble for those levels, as they aren't already placed.

Painful Pointy Pufferfish: The Pointdexters in Hydrocity Zone and the Bubbles in Marble Garden Zone are robotic pufferfish who defend themselves with their quills and can only be hit when these are gone.

The power-down monitors with Robotnik's face on them, also known as Eggman Marks. Opening one of these has the same effect as getting hit.

The versus mode in Sonic 3 has gray versions of the Speed Shoes, which slowed the player to half speed.

Poor Communication Kills: Hidden Palace Zone has a mural showing Dr. Robotnik with the Master Emerald in his hands, and Super Sonic confronting him. Evidently, Knuckles misinterpreted this as Robotnik trying to save the Master Emerald, and thus treated Sonic and Tails as enemies.

Pop-Star Composer: Of a sort.Michael Jackson and his sound team were tapped to help out with the soundtrack in 1993. However, during development, they were abruptly dropped from the project. While the real reason as to why they were removed remains unknown,note The two possible reasons given is that Jackson was either dropped due to his child molestation charges or that he left the project on his own terms because he was dissatisfied at the limitations of the Genesis's synthesizer chip; GameTrailers' "Pop Fiction" series did an investigation into this debacle, and from what they found it was more or less a combination of the two: Jackson left on his own terms because the Genesis's sound capabilities weren't to his liking and asked to remain uncredited, and Sega later Unpersoned him after the child abuse claims surfaced at least three tracks made by them were confirmed to have made it into the final versionnote namely Carnival Night Zone, Ice Cap Zone, and the end credits theme, and one of them, the original credits theme, was repurposed into Jackson's hit song "Stranger in Moscow".

Power Floats: The Master Emerald-powered Mecha Sonic. Both of Sonic's Super forms also hover above the ground when they're at full speed.

Powerup Letdown: Because there are no levels with water from Mushroom Hill Zone onward, the Water Shield becomes this. Even when its bouncing ability might be useful, it's completely outclassed by the Lightning Shield's Double Jump. Thankfully, the Water Shield is very rare beyond that point.

Precursors: The former inhabitants of the Floating Island. A certain fight in the Hidden Palace Zone takes place before a mural of Super Sonic fighting the True Final Boss of the game, suggesting the presence of Seers.

Death Egg Zone Act 2: You defeat the first boss by manipulating gravity to hit it with its own minibots. You can also Spin Dash at a minibot that has its spikes stuck in the floor/ceiling to catapult them at the boss.

The Doomsday Zone: You maneuver so the Robotnik-mecha's own missiles hit it in the face.

Q-Z

Quicksand Sucks: Sandopolis Zone and Desert Palace from the 2-player mode. Also, Marble Garden Zone features a tar-like substance that behaves the same way as the other examples of quicksand.

One of the greatest discussions among fans concerning this game is trying to figure out which Sonic 3 songs are re-purposed Michael Jackson's songs. One of the rearranged songs that wasn't made by Jackson is IceCap Zone's theme, which is actually a slightly remixed version of a then-unreleased song from the music group The Jetzons called "Hard Times"; the band included Brad Buxer, who was a songwriter for Jackson and is credited among the game's composers.

In most Zones, the music of the second act is a rearrangement of that Zone's first act.

Race Against Time: Sandopolis Zone Act 2 is this in spades. You have to race against dimming lights, slowly closing doors, rising sand sections, and the 10 minute time limit. Even the boss has a limited time to be defeated before he crushes you.

Replaced the Theme Tune: If you have Sonic 3 hooked up to the Sonic & Knuckles cart, its title theme is replaced by the one from Sonic & Knuckles. Same goes for some of the music in the game itself (1-up theme, mini-boss theme, invincibility theme, & Knuckles' theme).

Rivals Team Up: Sonic and Knuckles pull this after the latter realizes that he was tricked by Dr. Robotnik.

Sampling: The standalone Sonic 3 soundtrack makes heavy use of sampling vocals and sound effects from popular songs, and, as noted in Pop-Star Composer, reusing melodies from some of Michael Jackson and Brad Buxer's discographies.

Scenery Porn: Beautiful pixel art, and impressive parallax scrolling on the backgrounds. There are a lot of little cosmetic details to the graphics that were in no way necessary to making the game and are clearly an example of Doing It for the Art. The water levels in Hydrocity Zone Act 1 and Launch Base Zone Act 2 match the surface and have different backgrounds below them, leading to a great effect.

Schmuck Bait: The Robotnik monitors. Hitting one will either cause you to lose your shield, lose all of your rings, or die if you don't have any. The monitors are a non-issue for the Super/Hyper forms.

Scoring Points: Complete an act with the clock on 9:59 (one second before a Time Over) and you are awarded 100,000 points, enough for two extra lives. Not easy as it is at that time you must land the critical hit on whatever boss you're fighting. It's easy to do this with Knuckles in Carnival Night Zone Act 2, as he doesn't fight a boss.note Unless you know how to access it. Just stand in front of the capsule until 9:58 or so and then jump and break the capsule. Requires patience.

Secret Level: The Doomsday Zone, which is only accessible if you beat Death Egg Zone as Sonic (with or without Tails, who gets left behind either way), with a full set of Emeralds (either Chaos or Super will work), and is just an extended fight with Dr. Robotnik's final mecha. This level is inaccessible when not playing as Sonic.

It's possible for Tails to skip a few midbosses simply by flying past the area where you fight them. For example, the midboss of IceCap can be skipped if you're using Tails and fly above the midboss area. This causes a few glitches in Act 2, though. The Mecha Sonic fights in Sky Sanctuary Zone can also be skipped this way.

You can glitch dash through the Flying Battery Zone Act 2 boss so you end up on the other side of the barrier looking at Robotnik. You can go almost to the top of the level but the clouds and boxes are glitched.

Sequential Boss: You get quite a few of these kind of bosses in these games. They are:

The boss of IceCap Zone Act 2, Robotnik/Eggrobo with a frost blower and a platform below it. Eggrobo will raise and lower the platform, while Robotnik will keep the platform down. After 6 hits, the platform breaks off and the ice reserve tank on Robotnik's ship busts open.note You can get frozen from touching that part of his Eggmobile when the tank starts leaking. Two more hits and this boss is finished.

The boss of Launch Base Zone Act 2 is a three-parter in Sonic 3 alone and a two-parter on the locked-on game. For Sonic/Tails, you first have to deal with Robotnik's roller-ball shooting machine on land, then after Sonic rides the spare Eggmobile to the Death Egg's platform, Robotnik returns in a laser airship. In the locked-on game, destroying this airship ends the Act, but in Sonic 3 alone, you get that version's Final Boss of "Big Arm" after the airship is destroyed. Knuckles, when he reaches his Act 2 boss area, goes straight to the airship and then has to deal with "Big Arm" before an end-of-zone capsule appears for him to bust open to end the stage.

The boss of Death Egg Zone Act 1 is a station core with an eye and rotating exploding balls. After delivering 6 hits, the central machine with the eye comes out of the core and produces two spinning platforms, and hitting it now causes it to fire a laser across the floor. 6 more hits are required to destroy it.

The last boss scenarios in Sonic & Knuckles are both sequential:

For Sonic & Tails, the player first has to deal with another robot controlled by Robotnik that spits out rolling spikes. After destroying this thing, Sonic/Tails chase Robotnik into his Death Egg Robot, and the first phase of this is a Background Boss where the player has to destroy the individual fingers, then hit the nose of the robot to reveal the core and Master Emerald and hit that, and then hit Robotnik's escaping Eggmobile with the Emerald in tow while the walkway is crumbling behind you. If Sonic has all the Emeralds, he then goes on to the Zone that features the True Final Boss, which also has several phases. The first phase requires Sonic to lead Robotnik's missiles back into his craft's face, and then he has to catch up with the craft and smack it.

For Knuckles, it's two phases of Mecha Sonic. The first phase is the same as the fight in Sky Sanctuary when playing as Sonic/Tails, but then Mecha Sonic starts charging himself up on the Master Emerald and goes Super. When he fires energy blasts, he comes down to recharge, and that's when the player can hit him. When Mecha Sonic is down to two hits, he limps in the air and fires a spread-shot of rings, and ducks down every one in a while. Hitting him here will finish him off.

In the standalone Sonic 3, after the first boss fight in Launch Base Zone Act 2, Sonic flies an Egg-O-Matic to the final arena. Tails stays behind and doesn't join Sonic for the two final battles, and Knuckles gets knocked off into the water on the way there. Once Sonic gets off the hovercraft, it's just him and Robotnik.

In Sonic 3 & Knuckles, when the game is played as Sonic and Tails, the latter disappears once Sonic flies off to face Dr. Robotnik in The Doomsday Zone.

While it was later standardized as Eggrobo, "EggRobo" is the Badnik's earlier spelling, and also suggests that it may have been intended to be a portmanteau of "Eggman" and "Robotnik".

TechnoSqueek from the Sonic 3 manual was later listed as Technosqueek in the Sonic & Knuckles manual, despite it not making a proper appearance in the former game due to the zone order being rearranged relatively late in development.

Spikes of Doom: One enemy in Marble Garden Zone subverts this; it fires projectiles at you, but hitting the tips of the spikes merely bounces you off without any damage. This is double subverted, as this being an enemy, you will still take damage by running into the side of the spikes, something that doesn't happen with real spikes.

Hydrocity Zone to Chemical Plant Zone from Sonic 2. They're both very vertical high speed levels with lots of tubes, slopes, and water. This was even confirmed in the Japanese Sonic Jam Official Guide, where it's outright stated that it was based on Chemical Plant Zone.

Flying Battery Zone, simply put, is what Wing Fortress Zone from Sonic 2 should've been. Carnival Night Zone would appear to be this to Casino Night Zone from the name, but besides being brash and colorful levels they don't share much in detail.

The rolling ball shooting contraption at the end of Sonic/Tails' Launch Base Act 2 has Robotnik in a stationary cockpit on top of a pillar. He will not move, and you have to use the hatch to the machine to reach him.

This also applies to the first phase of the fight with the Death Egg Act 1 boss, as it is encased in a turbine and only the eye moves. After this phase ends, it emerges from the turbine and starts floating around the room.

Stalked by the Bell: In Sandopolis Zone Act 2, ghosts start to appear as lights in the level go out, and will start attacking unless the player continues to switch new lights on.

The Stinger: Like in the first game, and the 2013 remake of the second game, after the credits roll a small scene plays.

In vanilla Sonic 3, failure to collect all Chaos Emeralds shows Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles in possession of them, laughing. Likewise, failure in Sonic & Knuckles or the full game has either Robotnik or the Mecha Sonic claiming the Master Emerald.

Collecting all Chaos Emeralds as Sonic or Tails in Sonic & Knuckles but not starting the Super Emeralds quest in the full game shows the last Eggrobo awakening, which links Sonic and Knuckles' stories.

Stop Hitting Yourself: This is how Gapsule, the miniboss of Flying Battery Zone Act 1 has to be beaten. You need to make its spikeball arms hit itself by standing on it, then running away at the last second when they attack.

Story-Driven Invulnerability: At several points, Robotnik shows up outside of a boss fight but cannot be destroyed.note at least, not without exploiting some game breaking bugs that allow you to land 256 hits on him. The most notable instance is during his theft of the Master Emerald.

Bestowed by a Water Shield. Fridge Logic dictates that gas exchange between the water and the giant air bubble would not be able to keep up with Sonic's respiration, so Sonic would still run out of air, but who cares?

In addition to the usual Super Sonic, it's also possible to play as Super Knuckles. And if you collect all 14 Emeralds you can become Hyper Sonic, Hyper Knuckles, or Super Tails.

Mecha Sonic gains one of these at the end of Knuckles' story as the final boss, though in this case he uses the Master Emerald to power his Super form (something the Master Emerald has only done here and wouldn't be doing again until Sonic Chronicles).

Tactical Suicide Boss: The Lava Reef Zone boss. The spikeballs it sends out eventually come back down the slope and hit itself. It's otherwise completely immune to any attacks (includingSuper/Hyper forms).

Threatening Shark: Inverted. The "Jawz" mook you face in Hydrocity Zone is the easiest enemy to beat in the entire Zone. It slowly propels itself horizontally from offscreen, and while it has a tendency to appear suddenly and in groups, it can be hit anywhere with a spin attack or jump attack. The inversion is that Jawz appears exclusively in Act 2, while the much more bothersome Bugernaut appears exclusively in the Act 1. Hence, Hydrocity is actually better with sharks.

Every level has a time limit of 10 minutes, which is usually far more than enough. Carnival Night 2 and Death Egg 2 often come close, though.

In The Doomsday Zone, a second time limit is imposed by Sonic's Super State slowly draining the rings in his possession; run out, and you fall to your death.

Used to great effect in Knuckles's version of Sky Sanctuary Zone. The Floating Island is slowly sinking in the background and will drop off the screen at the 10 minute mark.

Too Dumb to Live: The Act 1 bosses of Flying Battery Zone and Sandopolis Zone can be easily tricked into killing themselves. Not to mention the Act 2 boss of Lava Reef Zone - all you have to do is stay alive long enough for Robotnik to be hit by enough of his own mines.

Totally Radical: The Monkey Dude Badnik in Angel Island Zone, an obvious update of the similar Ai Ai/Coconuts Badnik from Sonic 2.

True Final Boss: The Doomsday Zone. To unlock this, Sonic must all collect all the Emeralds prior to going to Hidden Palace Zone.

Tube Travel: Several zones have tubes which Sonic can travel through by entering one end, zooming through a series of tubes then coming out of the other.

Under the Sea: Hydrocity of course, but the Sonic 3 half has noticeably the most water in any Sonic game, with Marble Garden being the only Zone (of six) without it. The second acts of Carnival Night (only as Sonic and Tails) and Launch Base have enough water to double as secondary water levels to Hydrocity's main one. There are less water segments when playing as Knuckles and the Sonic & Knuckles half has none at all — though you can call Sandopolis a water level in disguise. Despite being a desert, it has all the markings of a Sonic water level.

In Hydrocity Zone Act 2, it's fairly easy (though fixed in the locked-on game) to go past the boss and right to the capsule without doing the boss fight. Unfortunately, for some reason, this prevents the level transition cutscene from playing, and while the timer keeps ticking up, you won't die when it hits 10 minutes. The only way out is to reset.

When playing as Sonic with Tails tagging along, it's possible to glitch Tails off-screen so he doesn't return. Doing so in Marble Garden Zone makes it impossible to fight the boss.

Knuckles isn't supposed to get into Death Egg Zone at all, but if you get him there via level select, you'll find that the Act 1 miniboss is impossible to defeat because the core is too high for his lower jumping height.

Weaksauce Weakness: Flame Shields let you run over molten magma and Lightning Shields make you a ring magnet and immune to electricity, but both are immediately cancelled if you touch water, though the latter also acts as a Smart Bomb when this happens. Annoying in the Sonic the Hedgehog 3 portion, with water in five of its six Zones, but not once you reach the Sonic & Knuckles levels which have no water sections at all. Strangely, being in Super or Hyper form will allow the Lightning Shield and Flame Shield to remain, but you'd only notice this with the Lightning Shield's ability to attract rings. The shields also disappear once you lose the form.

Weaponized Exhaust: If the boss uses a rocket to fly, it can use that rocket to hurt you. Luckily, though, the developers had foresight; if you have a Flame Shield, you're unaffected by the exhaust, giving you a great angle to attack from.

What the Hell, Player?: In Competition mode, if one player jumps the starting line before the countdown reaches "GO!", a buzzer plays, "FAULT" appears on their side of the screen, and the round restarts.

Word Salad Title: Flying Battery Zone is often mistaken for this. However, one definition of battery is a group of guns that fire simultaneously. Presumably that's what the name refers to.

The Worf Effect: Knuckles' introduction has him knocking Sonic out of his invincible Super Sonic form before swiping the Chaos Emeralds.

Wrap Around: A few areas in IceCap Zone and Sandopolis Zone tend to loop when not exited from them properly. With the "Hyper Sonic" in Sonic 3 cheat, you can wrap around back to the first Act of a Zone, resulting in messed-up graphics and other glitches. Though if you want to be pedantic, this isn't technically a Wrap Around at all, but the "loopback", which is the level geometry repeating ad infinitum to prevent a crash if you somehow get there. A few levels are taller than the engine can handle. The developers got around this by making the level wrap vertically and making them intersect with themselves a certain way. On these levels, you can perform a vertical Wrap Around just by ducking until the camera goes as low as possible, then quickly jumping off the top.note This works because on vertical wrapping levels, the engine tracks the player's position relative to the camera, rather than map coordinate 0-0 as it does on fixed stages, so jumping off the top results in suddenly being a massive distance below the camera, several "laps" of the stage down. Results vary from getting stuck in the wall too skipping large segments of the stage.

Community

Tropes HQ

TVTropes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available from thestaff@tvtropes.org. Privacy Policy